Page 31 of From London, With Love
“Mama!”
They both looked to the right, where Maddie stood forlornly beneath a pair of ash trees, her red kite hovering in the branches.
Mina sighed. “I swear if I told her to jump in the pond, it’s the only time she wouldn’t do it.”
“I hope you have your climbing shoes on,” Alexandra replied with no small amount of enjoyment.
“Do try not to enjoy this too much,” Mina growled, hauling swathes of her skirt out of the way as she strode toward the tree.
“Oh, no,” she called. “I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. It’s the least you deserve.”
* * *
“What do you think of this?”Alexandra murmured.
Malloryn clasped his hands behind his back. He seemed distracted, and she had to snap her fingers to capture his attention. Those stormy gray eyes blinked into focus. “Pardon?”
Alexandra straightened from the plans her architect had been drawing of Buckingham Palace. Her great-great grandmother, Queen Charlotte I, had completed its construction in 1836, but Alexandra’s husband had always despised the place and preferred to create his own legacy. He’d persuaded her father, King Michael I, to begin renovations of the Banqueting House that remained from the Palace of Whitehall fires, down by the Thames.
After he’d overthrown her father and forced her into marriage, he’d insisted upon completing those renovations, though the project had expanded beyond thinking. It became known as the Ivory Tower, a shining beacon of purity that was supposed to rule over London forever. If there was one thing she could thank Lord Balfour for, it was destroying her husband’s cursed monument.
And yet, such destruction now left her with no particular residence to call her own. Windsor was too far from London. Kensington too small for her entire court. Her people needed to see her. They needed to be reminded that she was their queen and that all her husband’s monuments were nothing more than ash and dust, just as he was.
And Buckingham suited her purposes. Or at least, it would.
“Are you ignoring me, Malloryn? Am I boring you?” she demanded.
“No,” he replied sharply, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “My apologies. I was… thinking.”
“Thinking.” Alexandra straightened. “Do you possibly suppose you can think a little more on what I’ve been saying, and not on whatever is plaguing you?”
Malloryn stared at her.
Alexandra stared back. He was not behaving at all like himself. “Well?”
“There is something I must do first,” he muttered.
And then, to her shock, he knelt at her feet.
“What are you doing?”
“Apologizing,” he said. “It has been brought to my attention that I… I may push you too hard and try to manage you, when it should be the other way around. And I wanted you to know that I do not see myself as anything other than your servant. I am loyal, my queen. Even when I am… managing matters. I only have your best interests at heart.” His voice roughened. “And if you wished for me to retire as your Master of Shadows, then I would do so.”
Alexandra’s mouth fell open.
Of all the things she’d never expected to hear….
“Good grief,” she said. “Is this your wife’s doing?”
His face twisted. “My wife did mention something about it, yes. Though it was Miss Townsend who first broached the subject.” He looked up. “I was pushing you to marry, and I was wrong. You should be free to make your own choices.”
“Iamfree to make my own choices.” Alexandra swished around the table, heading for the decanter on the sideboard. She splashed a mouthful of cordial into a glass and then sipped at it. “Are you trying to tell me that you don’t think I should marry?”
“Of course I think you should marry,” he said, resting his hands on one thigh.
She arched a brow.
“I won’t lie. It’s exactly what I think you should do. But I went about it the wrong way. I conferred with several members of the council and maneuvered you into that vote. I knew which way it would go, and I deliberately backed you into a corner. I should have spoken to you about it, and only you. And then I should have trusted you to make the right decision.” His face grew hard. “I’ve lost your trust.”
